Although it is rare, every so often a play comes along that is so bold, incisive and innovative that it smashes all preconceptions of what a stage work can accomplish. Else Went's daring, timely, no holds barred "DEGENERATES," which just ended it initial run at off-Broadway's Playwrights Horizons, is one of these groundbreaking rarites.
It helps that the Playwrights Horizons production of "Degenerates" features two astounding, career defining central performances (by Zachary Desmond and Christopher Dylan White) and expert direction by the playwright's spouse Emma Rose Went that feels completely attuned to the finely calibrated writing. The play tackles some of contemporary society's most pressing ills (e.g., isolation, loneliness, dearth of empathy) in a visceral and urgent way that no other play I have seen to date has come even close. "Degenerates" shook me to my core and has stayed with me as I continue to process its characters and themes more than two weeks after seeing the show.
Although its initial run has ended, "Degenerates" has announced an encore run of the show at Playwrights Horizons' larger theater from December 22- January 24. If you are in New York during this additional run don't miss this show.
I was also fortunate to catch the final performance of Daniel Fish's wildly creative theatricalization of a 1993 C-SPAN moderated roundtable with AIDS activist Larry Kramer and NIH Doctor Anthony Fauci at St. Ann's Warehouse, aptly titled "KRAMER/FAUCI." Will Brill as Fauci and Thomas Jay Ryan as Kramer gave fully lived in performances that evoke the energy and spirits of their real life counterparts without feeling like surface mimicry. Rather than evoking an unearthed YouTube video, this production felt urgent, often absurdly funny and frighteningly current.
On the new musical front, I was thoroughly engrossed by and recommend Roundabout's organ donation themed and electronic music inflected "THE HEART" now playing at the Laura Pels Theatre off-Broadway. And although there were some aspects that I liked in Broadway's "WANTED" and the Public's "THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON," both new musicals insisted on hitting me over the head with their themes and in their delivery such that I would not personally recommend either of them.
Finally, I thought the MTC Broadway revival of Jocelyn Boih's "SCHOOL GIRLS OR, THE AFRICAN MEAN GIRLS PLAY" wisely leaned into the play's ample humor such that it becomes a riotous romp that more than eclipses the at times dour-feeling tone of the original off-Broadway production. Those looking for a good time with a great cast should catch this before it closes on November 15.
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